pueblo professor matt harris discusses the anti-slavery movement before the civil war. sunday at 10:00 a.m. on orl histories, our women in congress series continues. then at 8 p.m. on the pez presidency, a look at the relationship between hamilton and washington and the historical accuracy of hamilton the musical. on monday at 8:00 p.m., the white house historical associations presidential site summit. watch american history tv this labor day weekend on c-span 3. >> you're watching american history tv. follow us on twitte twitter @cspanhistory for information on our schedule. and to keep up with the latest history news. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspanhistory. >> next, military historian mark snell on his book gettysburg's other battle.

he explained how the famous civil war battlefield was used as a world war i training camp in 1917 and 1918. named camp colt, its commander was a young dwight eisenhower. >> we're at the eisenhower national historic site on great war camp call weekend. we're here to comememorate the world war i as well as the 100th anniversary of camp colt when it was commanded by colonel eisenhower here at getgettysbur pennsylvania. our next speaker is mark snell. and has had several assignments as well as careers after that. he taught history at the united states military academy at west point. and he was a -- a lecture ur at the royal academy at sand hurst

in the uk. he was also a professor of history at shepherd university in shepherdsville -- shepherdstown, west virginia, where he also was the founding director of the george tyler moore center for the study of civil war. he also has written very extensively on world war i and the civil war, especially the civil war in west virginia. he's writing a book on camp -- he wrote a book on camp colt and gettysbu gettysburg. the years the united states were in the great war. mark, why don't you come on up and we'll get your program going. i'm reading the -- also, he wrote a book about gettysburg.

history and place here at gettysburg. >> the introduction that i intr thought was going to be read had to do with the title over there, seeking the master the art that made the name gettysburg historic. the title itself probably doesn't make sense at first if you look at it. but if you understand the context of it, that was the quote of a young soldier who was assigned here in 1917 by the name of private joseph stone. he was part of the 59th united states infantry unit. he was quite literate, but he was really excited to be training on the same field that robert e. lee had ordered a charge. that's what he's talking about, we're here seeking to master the art that made the name

gettysburg historic. okay, first slide, please. on an unseasonably cool yet pleasant summer day in august 1954 veterans were joined by their younger tank comrades along with approximately 3,000 on lookers to dedicate a pine tree and bronze plaque in memory of camp colt and in honor of its famous commander. in 26 years between 1918 and 1954 captain dwight eisenhower rose to become rank with the general of the arm ar. after world war ii the five star general was appointed army chief of staff under president harry truman. upon leaving the service in 1948 he was named president of columbia university before being

recalled to active duty by truman in december 1949 to take the helm of nato, the north atlantic treaty organization. then in 1952 the former camp colt commander was nominated for president and went onto win a landslide victory. the president had occupied the executive mansion for a little more than a year and a half in the summer of 1954. unable to attend the reunion he sent a message by his comrades. please extend my warmest greetings to everyone attending the homecoming reunion of the world war's tank core association. as you review the experience while in the active service of your country you can take added satisfaction from the fact your fellow citizens understand and

appreciate the importance of your contributions to security of our nation. i wish you a most successful and enjoyable reunion, unquote. parks, the commanding general of second army headquartered at fort meade, maryland, was a fitting surrogate to represent the 34th president. as a young officer parks had commanded company a 333rd tank battalion at camp colt. the memorial tree, a stout yellow pine was planted from soil from all 48 states and territories from alaska and the like. in most cases the soil was taken from a significant historic site. frach for example, texas sent earth from the alamo, louisiana sent soil from the field where andrew jackson defeated the british and so on.

it bore a simple inscription seen here. the united states army tank corp the birthplace of the tank war of the united states army in 1918. behind the marker stands a tree planted in the soil from each of the 48 states and dedicated in the honor of captain dwight d. eisenhower who was inaugurated the 34th president of the united states of america. this living testament is a tribute of the affection and high esteem of his 1918 tank war comrades. dedicated august 23, 1954, world war tank war association. the plaque also included the organization's insignia. in his address general parks

remarked quote here at gettysburg national military park we're at the very heart of military traditions. i can think of no more appropriate spot in america to plant this pine tree which will commemorate the birthplace of the tank war and which will be a testimonial to the esteem held by the tank core veterans for their former commander president eisenhower, unquote. parks also mentioned that the living memorial is located on the site of the camp headquarters. in reality the headquarters was located about a block closer to town and on the other side of the road. unfortunately a date on the plaque also was wrong. eisenhower's inauguration is on january 20th not january 2nd. the reunion came to a close that night with a banquet at hotel gettysburg and they all went home. but how did the camp come to be located on the revered

gettysburg battlefield in the first place? on april 6, 1917 congress declared war on imperial germany. friday april 6th edition were the words state of war declared. the gettysburg compiler like wise announced the declaration on the front page of its weekly edition. as you heard during introduction or as you were supposed to hear during the introduction the legislation that created gettysburg national military park also had an amendment a year later in 1896 that allowed it and other places to be used as training grounds in cases of a national emergency. these camps, however, were of short duration with a declaration of war against germany the chance had come for

gettysburg national military park to host a long-term perhaps even a permanent military post. the town fathers would not wait for the army to come to them. they would solicit the federal government to bring the army back to gettysburg. a group of prominent citizens including the mayor, president judge, and presidents of the lutheran seminary and gettysburg college setup an addition to what president wilson and newton d. baker requesting a training camp be established at gettysburg national military park, citing the ample space, the area's healthy conditions and the satisfy railroad facilities. baker and his staff agreed. how many of you wonder why it's called gettysburg national military park instead of gettysburg national military field? now you know, because the warring part was responsible for it and it had a dual purpose. not just to commemorate the

battle of 1863 but to be used by soldiers in cases of a national emergency as a training ground. as a result of this decision six entire infantry regiments along with their supporting units would live and train on the battlefield during the spring, summer and fall of 1917. the new regiments to be activated at getties aeysburg we built around the 4th and 7th regiments of the regular army which had been posted on am mexican-texas border. part of the lone star state from five special trains and arrived on june 2nd. but because it traveled a longer distance pulled into the gettysburg station on june 4th. the lead article of the

gettysburg times stated, quote, in five long trains the fourth regiment united states infantry numbering 122 men with full equipment arrived in gettysburg on may. the camp will be busy from now on for a period of several months, unquote. gettysburg was transformed into a garrison town literally overnight. one recently arrived khaki clad soldier told a "times" reporter quote, oh, it was awful down there, sagebrush and cactuses, rattlesnakes and turantulas, unquote. with amenities that already were in place to cater to this new breed of tourists. no attempt was made by the army commanders to immediately establish a camp when the troops

arriv arrived allowing the men to explore their new surroundings as a welcome respite from their cross-country train trip. a compiler observed, quote, soldiers appear today be in what they enthusiastically called god's country. from sand to sagebrush has proven delightful to the boys, unquote. the rapid mobilization of armed forces inspired an american composer to write the popular song, "we're in the army now." i know you all know it, just don't break out in song, okay? in june 1917 gettysburg might have adopted the popular new song in its own mantra. the trains were immediately set to columbus, ohio. the rendezvous point.

the gettysburg times informed its readers that quote, gettysburg looked quite war like on sunday when the men in khaki running up to town and many remarked if 2,200 make it a big crowd, what will it be like with 12,000 here, unquote. indeed could the town's infrastructure support the incursion of so many soldiers? there was an ample supply of a long list of people were not wasteful. as the 50th anniversary of the gettysburg commemoration four years earlier in 1913 had plainly validated. more than 100,000 veterans and spectators, towns folk and dignitaries came here to commemorate the battle and sell prate the unity that followed the war. now, what goes in must come out. so the soldiers can't without

its own means for sewage and trash removal. but if needed the town government would coordinate with the camp authorities to ensure the proper disposal of any surplus overflow. unbeknownst to most visitors of the gettysburg field today, they dug up the sewage system from the camp of the u.s. troops/camp colt, and it's still there buried in the ground, an entire sewage system. by the end of the same week that the soldiers arrived the camp was beginning to take shape. it would be called officially camp of the united states troops gettysburg, pennsylvania. 100 car loads of lumber had been ordered for the construction of latrines, mess halls, kitchens, offices, stables, storage buildings and tent floors. on june 7th want ads were posted

about town for 500 carpenters to be employed for camp construction and be paid at 25 and 30 cents an hour depending on their skill level. a story in "the time" alluded to the hope that the camp would become permanent and that departure of the regulars would become a training camp for drafted men. the same article carried dues that the dough bboys so far had conducted themselves well. a rush to setup camp that it had once been a bloody battlefield and now was an important national historic site. army trucks and army cycles plowed burro streets, park avenues and the newly laid company streets in the camp. horses and mules continued to arrive by the hundreds in july with thousands of tons of fodder and forage while depositing an

almost equal amount of manure. certainly the historic significance of where therapy camped was not lost on the soldiers. private joseph j. stone, 59th united states infantry kept a detailed journal of his time in service. he was very literal and had a historic mindedness, which is apparent in his journal entries. stone noted that, quote, the men who formed the nucleus of the organization came from company l, fourth infantry, grant's old regiment. all of the old army school hardened into the service by years of experience and the old regular army, unquote. after describing their arrival in gettysburg and his initial experiencewise the other new recruits, stone wrote, quote, the old battlefield of gettysburg became alive with men

seeking to master the art that made the name of gettysburg historic, unquote. then he filphilosophies and the historical importance of the land on which he and his combats were living and training. quote, the place too was ideal for the purpose and aided much in keeping and developing the martial spirit in the company. company l was surrounded with and the boys who made the company became full of the spirit and devotion that made sacred the place on which they drill, unquote. in late summer laborers found tangible evidence of the grim toll of the battle when they uncovered the remains of a rebel soldier who had been killed in action more than a century

before. the gettysburg times reported that the doughboys quote, took great pleasure in the news of the discovery and many of them joined in the hunt for bullets, unquote, which they declared they would take to france with them for souvenirs. the next day they uncovered the remains of a union soldier who then was reburied in the national cemetery. gettysburg national military park was suffering a severe environmental impact and its cultural resources were threatened. excavation for structural foundations, latrines and sewage lines for camp roads and building sites changed the topography of the battlefield where the confederate on slots of july 2nd took place. not to be forgotten a modern railroad bisected the training ground and its modern existence

already disturbed the lay of the land. the detritests of the modern camp would linger in the earth with civil war relics for generations to come possibly frustrating future archeological studies. parts of the battledfield were closed to visitors for security purposes. here you can see the heart of the camp. i'd like to point out -- can you come up and do it so i don't have to go over there? point out what's called the angle. right there on hancock avenue, if you take your finger and run it towards me farther down, keep going down this way. okay, go that way towards yourself. right there, that's the angle. you used to be able to drive on it, but it's all grassed in. sometime in the last 20 years they changed it and grassed it in. just to the left of that on the map is the famous luteens.

and keep walking and right there stop, see that? that's a swimming pool. an inground swimming pool made of cement, so as the hillbillies used to say a cement pond, right? right next to it watermark, a national shrine. it's still there today. you just can't see it. okay, you can sit down. hundreds of structures including office buildings, stables, mess halls, latrines and bathhouses occupied the battlefield. monuments and memorials were surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a modern army training area and thus susceptible to damage from vehicular accidents and vandalism from bored doughboys. captain stewart a. howard,

united states military class of 1903 in temporary command of the newly activated 51st infantry sent a note to gettysburg national commission park chairman. in early summer he belaid his fears about damage to the parng. quote, you may be sure that every effort will be made by myself to see that the men of the 61st infantry do not molest in any way the trees and parks of gettysburg national park. through the battalion and company kmanldecommanders this e is abated. now, what nuance was he talking about? well, i want you to picture tens of thousands of young men, how old were the young soldiers, 18,

20, 21, away from home for the fist time. they get here, now, alcohol is not permitted in camp but it's permitted in town. even though the camp commanders, you'll see beer bottles and liquor bottles every, where and what else do the other young men like, and this is being broadcast on c-span, but that's a cable network so i can say this, they want to have their personal needs fulfilled, okay? since getariesbering is a town of 3,200 people and only part of those are women and most of those women probably don't want to comply with their needs lots of ladies arrive by the train from philadelphia, baltimore, washington, d.c., pittsburgh, north pennsylvania, reading, pennsylvania and so forth and they have a different type of

advocation here. but there were also other places of ill repute, a little farming community and a little catholic community had one of the most famous bawdyhouses as they were called during 1917 and 1918. and u.s. officers of 1917 were constantly making busts. that's the nuisance that the captain was talking about. a week later the mark chairman sent a letter to the war department about military construction that continued to expand the size of the camp, requesting it be limited to west side of the road noting that an already, quote, covers one of the most historical portions of of any battlefield in the country, unquote. continuing he warned, to erect buildings on the line east of and along hancock avenue is to destroy the terrain. and it but destroys the grass

which can grow again, but buildings are unsightly and damaging, unquote. with so many young it was only a matter of time till some of them got into trouble. drinking, carousing and prostitution were the biggest problems. in what seemed to be an effort to keep the gettysburg soldiers occupied with legal activities a federal officer noted that they worked diligently with the borough government, the churches of adams county and other agencies to provide various forms of entertainment including sporting events, dances, speakers, concerts and even visits to role family homes. they had its own baseball and football teams that played other colleges. track and field meet were held at the college.

but boxing bouts were arranged as this prepare frd soldiers for hand to hand combat. dances were organized by the womens club of york. back at the camp proper a concrete in ground swimming pool was built with the dimensions of 110 by 50 feet by 10 feet. near the famed high mark of the confederacy monument and the massive pennsylvania memorial. unfortunately, its construction was not completed until autumn. another swimming hole was created by building a dam. and that is less than a mile crow's fly from here. the army, the ctca and local agencies were doing everything possible to ensure that the war department's directives for the

soldier's wholesome entertainment were fulfilled. at least two of them deserve special mention. the first one should not have even have been in gettysburg, nor should he have been wearing an army uniform. 12-year-old earnest had stowed away from an east train in ohio and landed in pennsylvania where he found a recruiting station and enlisted in the regular army. a half century later he recalled, quote, the day i stepped into an army recruiting office to tell a tough lucky individual to my desire to enlist i was 12 years old. the date was september 29, 1917, unquote. smart, large in frame and mature for his age, he was not even a teenager yet and convinced the

recruiter that he was 18 years old. he siped an alias on the enlistment form, henry e. monroe. his rouse worked and soon he was on another train, this time as a legitimate passenger, destination gettysburg. retmoore wrote in his memories, quote, it was situated on the battlefield, gettysburg, it was a thrilling site, never to be forgotten, unquote. he subsequently was assigned to company i, 60th infantry. retmooree eventually was shipped to france with his regiment. during the fighting of the offensive in the autumn of 1918 he was wounded and gassed. he survived his wounds and went onto live a long life. in 1939 he was recommended for the medal of honor, but nominations after the fact at that time had to be made within

ten years of the incident. and the recommendation was denied. retmor was recalled to active duty during world war ii and serve as an officer in the u.s. army air forces and after the conflict served in the u.s. air force reserve. he was recalled back to active duty during the korean war. he married several times and had a number of children all across the country, some of which never knew him, and he died in 1983 and is buried in arlington. i've been to his grave site, and on the back of his stone it says youngest american soldier, american expeditionary air forces. the other soldier who trained in gettysburg in 1917 and likewise merits recognition was also assigned to the 60th united states infantry. 34-year-old sergeant samuel

woodfill was a seasoned regular who came up from the u.s.-mexico border. during the offensive he performed a feat of arms rivalled only by the actions of the legendary sergeant york during the campaign. actions that won both men the medal of honor. here's a citation of woodfill's award. now, i'm not going to read it because it's really long. can you all see it? can you read the highlighted parts? anybody on that side? okay, well, let's make a long story short. single-handedly took out a bunch of machine gun nests just like sergeant york. one of them he took out at 300 yards with long-range fire. when he ran out of ammunition he picked up a pick ax and kill the other germans, captured a whole

bunch of them, crawled back to his men and didn't evenning bra about it. he was an unassuming regular soldier and he had a story other than thafact that sergeant york was a pacifist, he had a story similar to york in that he was a dirt poor farmer and he had to get out of the army after the war even though he was a medal winner so he could take a job so he could pay off a second mortgage on his farm until he got bailed out by concerned citizens of cincinnati, ohio. and he was from indiana but cincinnati was close by, so this guy was quite the warrior. sam woodfill reverted to the listed ranks after world war i. having received the medal of honor and named by general john pershing as ideal he also served as one of the paul bearers for

burial of the up known soldier. during world war ii woodfill was recalled to active duty and placed on recruiting duty. he died at the age of 51 in 1958 and is buried in arlington national cemetery. since the men were quartered in tents planners of the war department decided to relocate the sixth regiments to camp green near charlotte, north carolina. although most of the soldiers would leave gettysburg by thanksgiving, they left behind in the care of the quartermaster department, numerous temporary buildings that had been constructed. can and a camp that measured approximately 400 acres of government owned or leased land. the structures included 111 mess halls of various sizes. keep in mind, this is smack-dab in the center of the gettysburg

battlefield. 115 bathhouses, 115 multihole latrines, eight hospital shelters, one bakery, 18 animal shelters, one motor shed and stable, six hay storage sheds, one telephone exchange, three sleeping barracks for the quartermaster troops who would remain in gettysburg after the camps of the u.s. troops closed, two sewage disposal plants, 20 waste incinerators and three pump houses all totaled more than 400 structures all in the center of the battlefield. and even though i will tell you about the sewage treatment plants, they only processed gray water. that means water from the bathhouses and water from the kitchens. the latrines were very similar to the type that were used world war ii, vaietnam where metal containers are undermeth the holes, someone had to pull those

out, empty the liquid parts and then burn the solid waste. imagine being stuck on the detail to do that. imagine what that did to the monuments of the battlefield? this odd smelling smoke drifting around the monuments? because the local civilians had contributed to so many of the problems there were some doubt whether the u.s. army would send another large body of trainees to gettysburg in 1918. prospects of an army camp pervaded the streets of gettysburg during the harsh winter of 1917 to '18. the gettysburg times published an article and in it the reporter chronicled the speculations of the towns folk regarding reopening of the camp. they all wanted it to come back. why would they want that?

they're tearing up their beautiful battlefield. because they're selling them stuff. they're making lots of money. the writer of this article concluded that, quote, all the street ruling for the truth of which the times does not vouch but several of the stories are apparently well-founded, unquote. the wild tales came to an abrupt halt march 8th when congressman andrew hallbeck confirmed that another camp soon would be established on the site of the previous years potomac. by the way, one of the rumors that spread through the streets of gettysburg is that it was going to be a camp for 10,000 colored soldiers, black men, african-american soliers, and back then they were called colored soldiers or negro troop. and it was pretty much a white town, and you can imagine some of the fears that ran through

some of the white folk's minds. the first contingent of soldiers to arrive arrived on friday march 16th. more d more doughboys were on their way from other camps and posts. he replaced major w. m. vance who was the senior president when the camp was activated. eisenhower hoped in vain to and this was his second visit. he came here with the class of 1915 west point on his senior class trip. ike recalled in his memories, quote, i took a small detachment to the new campsite, my mood was black. i decided to lead in the charge of a good man named gardener.

i knew little about him but he seemed capable, unquote. eisenhower watched as a small contingent raised the flag and by unit supporting the 1913 reunion of the blue and gray. garner apparently had been an enlisted soldier with one of the army units that had been there in 1913. continuing his story ike reminisced about the incident many years later, quote, i saw captain garner watching the flag flapping at the top. he said captain, the last time i was on this ground was many years ago. at the time i was standing before a court-martial which sentenced me to six months at the guardhouse and then suspended the sentence. now, gardener said, i'm a captain of the same army and i'm standing here as temporary commander of the camp in which i was disgraced. as i looked up this hard-bitten gray-haired former hard combat,

tears chg down his face, all i could manage to say was, look, gardener, i know you will do splendid job, unquote. it had a lasting impact. according to ike to this day whenever we stand to salute the flag that memory is with me, unquote. the new actually received a official name and was named camp colt the man who developed the cylinder six shot pistol used on both sides during the civil war. more structures were authorized and a target range was situated some two miles south of camp near round top.

a conversion of some of the old stables and warehouses in the personnel quarters and the procurement of heating was required all the tune of $17,000. he requested funding for these projects on april 18th. $20,000 had already been allocated two months earlier and indicated that the previous amount had been sufficient to carefully prepare the camp for 2,500 men. as it turned out the camp core attracted some of the best and it would eventually swell in size to its peak strength of 6,400 men. that's roughly half of the size of the camp of the united states troops. captain eisenhower soon took out an ooadvertisement in the

gettysburg times. the sooner he could find a temporary residence the faster he could bring his young family to gettysburg. detid not take him too long to find a home. it's mainly remembered as being a damp, tiny home with two rooms down stairs or up stair and a potbelly stove. she had not known how to operate the stove without sfrukinstruct as she'd never seen one before. they moved to another home on washington street. although the accommodation there were much improved the house did not have a kitchen compelling them to eat their meals with ike at camp colt. they found a nice residence on

springs avenue. according to their eldest granddaughter susan eisenhower, quote, it was their first real home, unquote. captain eisenhower's immediate task was to establish their new training mission. in a mission he formed numerous tank companies battalions that would deploy to the western front, but under would see combat. of course camp colt would also have its share of personnel with troops providing supply food service and transportation functions, ordinary soldiers who worked as weldman, machinists, ammunition specialists as well as a medical staff. a so-called casual company was formed for new arrivals awaiting assignment to one of the battalions. their measure did not meet the physical and mental standards, a development battalion was created where men would be given classes, exercised and were health monitor bide the camp's

health officers. it was commanded by ike's west point classmate norman randolph, and you saw him in a previous slide. the casual company included a detachment and the company had a venereal company for men who had contracted those diseases. these unfortunates remained segregated until recovered or received treatment at a general hospital. unlike the infantry regiments from the year before the tank corp was not offered a band. probably as an homage for the civil war generation who had fought on the same ground 55 years earlier. the corp was assigned to the 308th battalion. and then later in the year a real military ban was organized from camp colt man who had the ability to play musical

instruments. the tank was also approved to conduct its own officer training school, that too would be located at camp colt. if you go over to this town over here this gentlemen has panoramic photographs of the camp of the u.s. troops and camp colt, and one of them shows the officer training school and they're all lined up in front of the high-water mark memorial. i thought the most immediate training problem was the lack of tanks, but remember this is the training ground for the united states. so its ordinance personnel fabricated a sheet metal lock up. ike's soldiers at least could get a feel for being inside one of the steel monsters. a short announcement and the brooklyn daily eagle newspaper for june 7, 1918 reported and declared camp corporal directed the building of an invitation

tank recently and it is being use said by members of the 328 battalion. it is mounted on an old chassis and runs along in excellent style, unquote. if nothing else it made a great background for group fetographs. no heavy tank, big ones that would look like that, no heavy tanks were ever delivered to camp colt. but on june 6, 1918, kind of an ironic day when you think of eisenhower's career, an air tank arrived at the depo. a gettysburg time reporter wrote, quote, the long expected tank is here. happy as as a playground full of children with a new toy. this morning a round of small french tanks was received by

fright from an automotive factory somewhere in america. it was driven through town while scores of people watched with the greatest interest. this tank was built in france but delivered to an automotive factory here so we could look at it and we could build our own. in his memories eisenhower alleged that two more tank wurz shipped to gettysburg, each weighed about 7 tons and each carried a machine gun or one powder canyon. the tanks arrived without weapons, unquote. ike's memory was a bit hazy. none of the local newspapers ever reported the appearance of the two other atanks whitanks w arrive. the gettysburg times afirmed soon after the armistice that quote, the lone tank with which

the camp total men got their practice rolled through the streets of town this afternoon, unquote. you go to some of the roadside kpibl exhibits here at the eisenhower national historic site and the park, those roadside exhibits will tell you two or three tanks. only one. photographs of the camp colt tank indicate that it was a first production model. eventually it would be armed with a machine gun. although the new tank's presence obviously was not a military secret the times reported that the quote, machine was stationed in an isolated part of the camp and visitors are not allowed to get aside of it, unquote. it had a rear mounted gasoline engine that produced 39 house power that allowed it to travel a lethargic 4 miles per hour with a maximum amount of 4 miles

per tank of gas. the tank was manned by a driver and a commander slash gunner. the latter crew member firing the weapon rotating the turret and giving directions to the driver. the tank's armor was nearly an inch thick bolted onto a steel chassis. it also had a curved detachable rear tail to prevent the tank from falling backwards into the trench. it was propelled by rear drive wheels with steel tracks that passed around large wooden steel rim forward mounted wheels. its tactical mission on the battlefield was to support the advance of the infantry over no-man's-land. captain eisenhower was fortunate to welcome to camp colt two

british advisers whoo commanded camp battalions, the scene of the first successful use of tanks against the germans. one veteran officer was frank summers who had been awarded his nation's distinguished service cross for bravery in action and distinguished service for leadership as a company commander in the summer of 1916. his son cyril, an officer in the royal navy had been killed in action during a historic battle just before the battle. lieutenant colonel summers took charge of a tank battle where his unit fought with great success. transferred back to the united kingdom in 1918 to organize tank training, he soon departed for the united states and was

assigned as a liaison officer at camp colt. take a look at this photograph. i've got everybody identified except the young man on the far right. notice the older officer has a black arm band. that's for his son cyril who died at the battle of jutlen. the other british advisor who served as a former battalion commander. the experience of these advisers brought to camp colt's training program would be immeasurable. decades later eisenhower recalled, quote, at about the same time that we would be seeing the tank two british officers appeared as advisers. thus began my connection with allies, a word that became vitally important to me as the years rolled on. the british officers helped us

to understand the uses of these new armored weapons, unquote. continuing ike remembered that, quote, in their conversations i heard about a british political figure named winston churchill. according to the two officers this churchill had a hand in producing the first tanks. they admired him and i must say from their descriptions he sounded like a good chap, unquote. indeed the tank consettlement w concept was churchill's brainchild, and he recommended it to the prime minister that quote special mechanical devices for taking trenches, unquote, should be developed. thus long before they became known and trusted each other eisenhower and churchill shared a common experienceal bond.

this is along stiver avenue and notice the fourth ohio infantry marker. that's still there today. it's close to the entrance where you would go up to the old building. now go to the next picture. that's what it look like today thanks to google earth. so the parking lot of general picket's buffet was basically captain ike eisenhower's headquarters. prior to the arrival of the tank eisenhower and his staff devised a broad training program that included rifle marksmanship, drill and ceremony tactics and even telegraphy.

according to eisenhower a number of machine guns came in and we trained the gunners until they could take them apart blindfolded and put them back together. then someone had the notion of nailing them onto truck tellers or flatbed trucks so we were able to train the men from mobile and still targets. soon soldiers were shooting from moving trucks at all kind of targets there, and firing may have been heavier than during the great battle 55 years earlier, unquote. the gettysburg times noted an article in july 6, 1918 that quote some practices this week with machine guns gave the impression there was a regular battle under way, but it was really a demonstration, unquote. once the tank arrived a handful

of troops were trained to drive it over normal tureason. to learn how to negotiate a steep rise with a steep drop, riders used the destroyed barn. to get a feel of driving across a battlefield drivers took it into the basement cavity of the bliss house. you civil war buffs might already know this, but for those who don't in 1873 the house and barn were burned to it ground to prevent the building from being used by confed rtd sharp shooters. all that remains is the ramp to the barn and the caved in cellar. the destruction caused by the grinding of steel tracks over this historic cultural feature has not been measured. but the ramp and cellar are still visible today indicating that any damage caused by the

rumbling contraption was slight. he also had to deal with vice, veneral disease and alcohol related problems within the camp. in my book i cover all the sordid particulars in how eisenhower went about solving these social problems through military discipline and by applying the lessons of the progressive era social endeavors. he was assist bide local and state police, u.s. marshals and u.s. district attorney as well as the local society, churches, the ymca, yang men's jewish association, the salvation army and the camp colt cvca. in 1913, shortly after the arrival eisenhower organized the publication of a weekly newspaper as a way to disseminate army and camp information, report the scores on camp colts teams, announce special events, spread friendly

camp gossip and generally improve morale. the title soon became the motto of the entire tank corp. years later one recalled how the motto came to be. quote, in alaska there was much playing during winter months of basketball teams. i was a member of the arctic brother hood team. at every game those arctic brothers and friends who were spectators always yell especially when game points were not in their favor treat umrough. the black cat was and still is the icon of the international cat order of the hoohoo, a service and fraternal organization founded in 1892. this officer of the originator

of the motto for the newspaper was lieutenant george r. goshal. decades later he served as u.s. commissioner of alaska, which remained a territory until it attained statehood in 1959. in the autumn of 1918 eisenhower who by now is a lieutenant colonel faced the most serious problem of his fledgling career. ten days before the offensive was scheduled to begin on the western front and while all eyes were focused on france camp colt received a detachment of 111 soldiers from massachusetts, an area already besieged by the deadly spanish influenza. some suffered headaches.

eisenhower recalled, quote, the next morning alarming reports started to reach me. some of the new men i was told were registering high fevers and were obviously very ill. camp surgeon immediately took counter measures. before noon spanish flu was recognized. because the men had not been confined to quarters and some of them were obviously carriers, the whole camp had to be considered as expose said, unquote. it was. and soon it would spread to gettysburg and the outlying communities. the disease was extraordinarily severe. total deaths were estimated at approximately 50 million and were arguably as high as 100 million. historians and scientists have yet to determine exactly where the spanish flu originated, but a consensus is emerging that it probably first appeared in

january 1918 in haskell county, kansas. in a southwestern corner of the sun flower state, eventually making its way eastward across the state where it was contracted by soldiers stationed at camp fun stn, kansas. and from there it was transported with infected doughboys to the east coast and finally to the western front. when it was in france it spread through the rear areas and front lines of the allies. across no-man's-land to the central powers armies and eventually back to the combatant's native countries. since the warring nations sensored news reports about the staggering effects that the flu was having on their armies and civilian populations only when it spread to spain, a neutral country, the news of the pandemic go public. from then on it was known as the spanish influenza. the pandemic erimented in three

ways. it first began when a mild flu flared up in the spring of early summer, and the last wave occurred in the spring of 1919. the flu symptoms usually included a high temperature from 102 to 104 degrees, sometimes climbing to 106. as well as a sore throat, headache, physical exhaustion, aching limb, a severe cough and even an intense nose bleeds and dark skin blocks. sometimes vomiting and loose bowels occurred. in such a weakened state patience develop pneumococcal pneumonia and hemorrhages. when that happens deaths follow. it typically struck children and the elderly. the spanish influenza primarily effected people in the prime of their life, the 20s and 30s and

it was especially deadly to soldiers on both sides already weakened by stress, fatigue and exposure and on the western front to mustard agent. the influenza epidemic hint camp david in massachusetts november 8th. the contingent of troops reached september 16th. the first person to die in adams county because of complics from the flu was one of the soldiers who have been transferred from devons. two other soldiers died that night, 70 more were hospitalized. the next day two mer men died and the number of patients doubled from the previous day. three more died and another three passed in the next 24 hours. "the times" headline on september 27th blared, all capital letters, influenza rages

at camp colt. go to the next slide. sorry, i must have left one out. go back to the previous slide. military police were stationed at all of the major roads leading out of gettysburg to prevent men without official passes from leaving the town. troops who displayed any signs of sickness were kwaquarantined. restaurant owners barred the doughboys from entering their establishments. the gettysburg fire department even hosed down the streets in a futile attempt to cleanse. st. francis xave yr church converted its hall into a hospital, other churches followed suit. a teacher in a schoolhouse in littles town asked her students to solicit donations from the towns folk, and they quickly gathered $100 which bought hot

water bottles and other house supplies from the camp. like wise the red cross sent nurses to gettysburg to assist the camp. the death toll continued to climb. according to eisenhower, quote, a little town had no place to take care of the dead. there were no coffins. we had no places to put the bodies except in a storage tent until they gradually could be taken care of more suitably, unquote. lavinnia dock, one of america's most well-known nursing experts who called western county her home, dropped what she was doing to come to gettysburg and assist the medical staff. dock was as it turns out along with lucy berns and alice paul were among the most outspoken of the women suferatests who was

protesting at that moment of their right to vote. she stopped to come home and take care of the soldiers. there were cases when the flu took multiple multiple family members, some from the same household. tragedy struck the hamlin of bar low which is where i live. five miles south of gettisburg. grace nary. october10th. threet three days later, her husband, oliver, 38 likewise. two adolescent sons, john, and harry. the grim reaper visited the grows family of tyrone township in a veilage northeast of gettysburg when two brothers were lost two days apart. followed by the mother on october 17th. williams, 34 marijuanay knoll, 33 of centennial, another

hamlin, died six days apart. william on october 19th and his way on the 25th of the month. mary's sister, the widow of louis smith, age 32, passed on october 23. harry of littlestown suffered the loss of his son and two brothers from the flu. finally, pete jay smith of centennial lost two family members within a week's time. his mother died on october 14th and the 16-year-old daughter passed on october 19th. the flu crisis in adam county was waning. still, by october 25th, the situation at camp colt seemed to be on the upswing. four military positions were transferred from gettisburg to attend now victims in other camp. the military deaths were 117 in colt in october. total of 149 deaths since the

epidemic struck. several more dough boys died in the flu in october for a total of 156 fatalities overall. the passage of the last soldier from influenza occurred on november 2nd, 1918. majority of the dough boys had departed gettisburg before the third wave of the influenza struck in late november and early diocese. the last civilian victim of the spanish flu was a three-year- old girl from butler township. total of 133 civilian deaths from influenza or pneumonia in adams county. with that final casualty, the ordeal was over. but it cost at least 289 military and civilian souls within the county's border. at the end of the battle of gettysburg, one civilian laid dead. jenny way. at the end of the tenure of

camp colt, 133 civilians laid dead. numbers, percentages and ratios are impersonal and they do not reflect the widespread physical suffering of the afflicted or the mental anguish of surviving family members and friends. soldier who is perished at camp colt could be buried free of charge at getis burg national cemetery but most returned home at the request of their next of kin. each flag draped coffin was accompanied by a soldier who immediately returned at gettysburg once completed. the uniforms and personal effects of the the dead were destroyed at the order of the camp physician. personal effects, other than uniform items were packaged and mailed to the next of kin. you can see some of the flu

victims that were buried in national cemeteries. the onset of the influenza epidemic had a sad and profound impact on the soldiers and nurses assigned to camp colt. the greatest memorial perhaps was written for the newsletter "treat them right" titled, gone west, a tribute by comrade. anone must you a another in the -- the anonymous author in the midst of this biological disaster articulated his sorrow. we stand a moment with heads bowed, with heavy hearts in silent tribute. then, with heads up and eyes front, we send word to these, our bunkies across the great divide. we will carry on, fellows. we will carry on, unquote. and they did carry on. but not for much longer.

in fact, none of camp colt soldiers who read that issue of treat them rough would see combat. it would be over over in in a few weeks with. november11th, 1918, the armistice went into effect. the next day, it the gettysburg time correctly predicted in a front age article that, quote, camp colt probably will be a thing of the past within a very few weeks. no official announcement has been made but the abain donement of the national -- abandonment of the national park came it ground is an expected result. the tapers will be leaving the next day, saturday november 16th with especially trains bound for camp dix, new jersey, to be must erred out of service. camp cold was no more. all that remain was a massive cleanup to restore gettysburg

national cemetery park to its pre war stage. it proved to be an immense under taking. leaving the physical scars of the battleles of the two camps for years to come. next slide. lieutenant colonel ember b. colt, veteran of the battle and now park engineer summarized that the damage to the shrine that u.s. army had caused from 1917 to 1918. click again. and again. a little light. can you all read that? at least 1428 cubic yard of waste need to be removed. nearly 4000 cubic yards of earth have been removed to

level drain, ditches and culverts as well as the arrangement of temporary roads closing the area. they were raised up, covered with gravel and they were slated with tar all in the middle of the battlefield. 200feet of paveed road. must fastball plowed up, some removed and levels. next one. on the trestle farm, the famous picture of the dead artillery horse? the trenches have been dug, machine guns have been gun and the antiseptic tank for

disposable sewage. this is 1921 dollars. much waste material such as wooden boards, broken boards. these cannot -- i tell you what. they had contractors come in and clean up this camp. they could keep whatever they wanted, as far as the contractors. most of the junk that they didn't want went into that swimming pool. i told the superintendent here, all right, i said, you know, you go out there in the spring time and take a look. she says, what do you see, mark? i said, world war 1 relics scattered around. you know what she said. groundhog is the official archeologist. that's the note of the day. our time this afternoon does

not allow me to go into depth about the environmental impact of the camps of gettisburg. nor do i have much time to tell you about gettisburg and adam county's human contribution to the war evident or people who live here remembered their sacrifices in the years that followed. to find out about those things, shameless plug coming up, you have to read my forth -- my book which just came out, not forth coming. that's the first in depth social history of any mesh community during the world war -- american community during the world war i era. thank you for your attention this afternoon. [ applause ]. >> mark. >> yes, sir. >> the swimming pool, is that in close proximity to the united states regular monument? >> right in front of it. east or west. >> west. you can take a baseball and

throw it and it would land in the swimming pool. that's how close it was. any other questions? yes, ma'am. >> the soldiers, were they recruited or those who became soldiers in world war i, what percentage of them stayed stateside and when percentage of them went over to europe? >> i can look it up. i really don't know. i know several million went overseas. the problem was that war was realatively short from our perspective, from the united states perspective. the war was declared in april. we did send a contingent, first division, early on. we sent the 26th division, which is the national guard division in the summedder of 1917. we sent a battalion of the u.s. marines, too. most of the troops don't arrive

until the early spring of 1918. now, 10th combat involving american forces does not occur until the last week of may. and the first man who was killed who came from gettysburg, first man killed in war, kid in action from gettysburg was killed in the first week of action. his name is arnold j. lend. as far as numbers and percentages, i can't tell you. we would have had the lion's share of the forces over there had the war gone into 1919 and 1920. >> what if it was something dramatic like half? >> well, i can tell you it wasn't half. they were gearing up to go. a lot of them were on the way when the armistice was declared. >> what was the last physical remains of camp colt removed

from the battlefield? >> that report was 1920. unfortunately, no report exists between 1922, i believe it is, and 1926. we don't know if there are any vestiges of the camp remaining. i imagine that they were there that you can see them from the naked eye. if you recall, i said that the topography of the battlefield changed because of these camps. first, there was a railroad line that bisected and that predated the civil war. that's the spur of the gettysburg railroad. from a bird's eye view, if you look on google earth, you can see that being there today where it cuts through the battlefield and the army built spurs off of that siding, as they were called, where they kept tanks full of stuff that they spray the streets with. they kept hay for the horses

and mules in rail cars. i would say probably in the mid- 1920s, most of that would have gone away. in 1922, the marine corps comes up here from quantico and stage maneuvers and create a lot of damage. not intention fullly. they are only here a couple of days, a week or so but there are torrential downpours as they are getting ready to leave and they bring in a bunch of tank and heavy equipment that gets stuck. that's called around seminary ridge. they tore up the battlefield quite a bit, too. >> my question is, was there a perimeter established when camp colt was here where so-called visitors to the battlefield -- >> not a perimeter per se but there would have been guards posted at the main road where visitors could not go. it did curtail visitor traffic during the war. peoplelying here did not care. they would get more money from soldiers than from tourists. there would have been areas of

the camp. i can guarantee you when big round top being used as a machine gun range, no visitor was have been allowed -- visitors would have been allowed. on the ground of camp colt was also a prison camp for german prisoners in world war ii but there were no structures -- >> no structures for that prison camp, just platforms. even the guards were on canvas. the only person that good decent quarters were the officers and they were quartered in the home sweet home motel which was only torn down 10 to 12 years ago. they were quartered there. it was contracted out by the army for officers and their families. just maybe two years ago, i walked through the area where

the p.o.w. camp was and there were busted milk bottles from the world war ii period that were laying in the drainage ditch by the camp. let me put up the slides if i didn't. let's escape out of this. s scape out of the whole thing. go to the back. i'm talking about the battlefield being changed. that railroad line did a lot of damage. when you bring in all these soldiers and you are digging foundations for buildings and you are grading the area, if you look at the battlefield today to the naked eye, it probably looked the way it did

during picket's charge. if you are a confederate soldier in one of the attacking divisions, it would have looked completely differently. they are taking advantage of the ground of the battle -- rolling ground of the battlefield to mask themselves from the union soldiers. the camp did take its toll on the resources here out gettysburg. >> and then there was the landing strip, the air strip, in 1922? >> yes. it was tell playerry. they had a temporary landing strip on seminary road. one plane crashed to the ground, the guy died as a result. one almost crashed into the

wheat field. >> how many monuments were destroyed? >> none were destroyed but a lot were vandalized. some were hit by trucks, army trucks. a couple of hundred motorcycle and trucks and cars that were on the streets in the middle of the battlefield and along park road. colonel colt, although he does not blame the soldiers, he talks about pieces missing off the cannons and bayonets broken off. they are young soldiers. they were looking for souvenirs, that's all. >> they didn't repair them? >> yes, they did. at the cost to american taxpayers. any other question? all right. well, thank you very much. [ applause ]. tonight on american history tv on c-span 3, an in depth look at world war i, starting with a tour of the library of congress exhibit, echoes of the great war with curator ryan

rest. american history tv in prime time begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. you're watching american history tv. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule and to keep us with the latest history news. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. this labor day weekend, american history tv on c-span 3 has three days of featured programming, starting saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern with lectures in history as colorado state university pueblo professor matt harris discusses the anti- slavery movement before the civil war. sunday at 10:00 a.m., our women in congress series continues with former congresswoman barbara connelly. and a lack at the relationship between george washington and alexander hamilton and the historical accuracy of

hamilton, the musical. watch american history tv this labor day weekend on c-span 3. >> this weekend, c-span city store takes you flagstaff, arizona. we'll explore the lit rarely life and history of and a half located 80 miles south of the grand canyon, saturday, at 7:00 eastern on book tv. author don lego discusses his book, grand canyon, a history of a national wonder managesal park. a quarter of the way into it the brand canyon, it starts about 70 miles east of here and from here, another 70 miles to run to the west. so right here is when the canyon starts for widen and deepen and turn into the classic view this is a you see in most photographs and calendars and famous images. >> reporter: on sunday, at 2:00 p.m.

eastern, on american history tv, a visit to the observatory to hear about astro new mexico call discoveries -- astronomical discoveries, include can the discovery of pluto. some people may think of this site as abandoned and completely empty but it is a very important living site for a lot of the descendants of the ancestral pueblo and people that lived in the area. hopi people may come here to do ceremonies and pay homage to their ancestors because they believe that soul of their ancestors are still here so this is a very important site to the people in the southwest. >> watch saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. and sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span 3. working with our cable affiliates as we explore america.

the national museum of health and medicine in silver spring, maryland, recently hosted a discussion with historian rachel levandoski about psychiatry and shell shock during world war i. she detailed the nature of shell shock and the lessons learned and not learned by military psychiatrists at the time. for tonight's program, this museum is always committed to sharing the stories and triumphs and challenges of military medicine. tonight, we'll hear from rachel levandoski. she is a historian and she is a ph.d. candidate at the university of north carolina at chapel hill. rachel will talk to us about how american military medicine confronted shell shock during world war i and what lessons we learned or maybe didn't learn and how we proceeded from there. i would like to welcome rachel.